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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

September 23, 2007

Michael Allen

VERONA, NEW YORK

STEWART MOORE: Michael Allen, congratulations, great playing today. Runner-up finish, 68. You birdied two of your last three holes. I know you're a big-time competitor, you wanted to win, but this finish does a lot for you. Are you on relative Cloud 9 right now?
MICHAEL ALLEN: In a way I won the tournament already just finishing second, because for me that was enormous.
I'd love to get that first win, but once against, like last time I finished second, Brent Geiberger kind of wore it out. I didn't really have much chance to win unless he really faltered but I just kind of kept playing and did my thing and I feel pretty darned good.
STEWART MOORE: You've struggled statistically with your putting this year. Putting average, I believe you were roughly about 128th. This week you finished tied for fifth. What changed?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I'm roughly 128th?
STEWART MOORE: Give or take.
MICHAEL ALLEN: 128 and a half? Okay. That's good. (Laughing).
My putting has not been as good, that's for sure. I worked on it a great deal before this tournament started, and when I get ready for TOUR School, I putted for an hour and a half every day. So that's a big part of it.
You know, I think I've been hitting the ball a lot better. My greens in regulation have come up a lot. So hence, my putting has gone down. Overall it hasn't been a great year putting, but that's the way a lot of years are for me. (Laughing)
STEWART MOORE: This being a first-year event, you're a big story today and a lot of fans are out watching you, and watching what you've gone through in the past. What does this tournament mean to you in terms of the upcoming year and what this does for you the rest of this fall?
MICHAEL ALLEN: It's great because I come out and I don't even worry until TOUR School until after March. So, you know, it's nice to finally get it done. (Laughter).
This place has been good to me. I played a good, solid round out here last year. It's been a nice spot for me. The fall now, I can actually take a vacation when my kids have a vacation. We usually go to Hawaii and my kids have to miss a week of school because I've got TOUR School when they are off. So, you know, it will be nice to not have that.
It will be nice to have a I won't be next year. I'm close to making those cuts for the 150, and this will at least give me the chance next year to surely get it because I need about five or six more to get the top 150.
You know, it's good. As you age, it's nice to have a little freedom here and there.
STEWART MOORE: If you could quickly just talk about the birdies on 16 and 17, the clubs you hit and what was going through your mind. Were you watching the scoreboard? Did you know what you had to do coming in to 18?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I didn't really. I knew I was doing well. I saw I was up there third or fourth place. I tried not to think about it too much. I hit it great on 15. I hit the flag, the bottom of the flagstick. But it didn't even stay on the green.
So 17, 18 were holes that just played well for me all week. So I really -- it was just a nice number and I knew I was swinging well and I hit a couple good shots there and I was able to make the putt.
Really, 18, I thought I really had to birdie to get to second place on my own. I didn't really watch that much. I think I spent more time 3-putting that hole than anybody in the history of the game so far. (Laughter).

Q. Talk about the difference in conditions Thursday, Friday, to Saturday, Sunday?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, the first two days that little dome they have over there for that hotel, that's kind of what we're like playing in. The course still played soft enough and the fairways were wide enough you could still play when the wind blew.
But it certainly made for a lot better decision making and making you think about how to play these shots and these holes. I always enjoy playing in the wind, a little more of a challenge. It makes a 68 look good where earlier in the week it was just an average score.
Starting the week I thought the scores would be quite a bit higher than they are. I just thought the course, the new length was going to be -- really did make this quite a challenge. And the guys, it's kind of frustrating to go out and shoot 69 -- that's one thing about the TOUR that's tough. You feel you played pretty good and you're sitting 25th; there's so many guys that play so well. It's nice to see the wind so 68 really holds up instead of being average.

Q. Do you think they are going to miss you at TOUR School? Are you going to have to send a note?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I'm going to get my money back. I saw that thing, normally, I wait and wait and wait; "I'll make it, I'll make it."
This time I said I'm just going to send it in and forget it. It will be nice to have that coming back. Actually made an extra $4,000 here. (Laughter).

Q. Do you get tired being asked about Q-School?
MICHAEL ALLEN: You know, I used to. It's got to be part of my life and it's what I'm good at it seems like. Maybe I should play more tournaments like this where I feel like it's TOUR School, because when I go to TOUR School I just try not to make any mistakes, and I've had some better weeks doing that. Maybe I'd better rethink my strategy a little bit. I'm always trying to be like Tiger, you know, and I'm not.
STEWART MOORE: We've heard a lot of players this week comment on this golf course, this tournament and the impact it made in its first year. Can you talk about that?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I think being out of TOUR School, it's been very frustrating trying to get in tournaments out here. You know, there's so many limited-field tournaments; I've got some issues with that that I'd like to see done.
So hence, when you get to this time in the season, guys like us, it's nice this stretch in the fall that we can actually come out and play. And then this tournament coming up and being $6 million, that's a nice purse; I haven't played in maybe but one or two all year. It's a great opportunity here. These guys have done a great job with the golf course and they have taken such great care of us out here.
But I think these guys, this Indian nation here, the Oneida Indian nation, it's a great benefit to all of us that there are not the top 30, 40 or 50 players.

Q. How much of a relief is it really to know that you've got your card now for next year?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I'm going to faint in just a little bit. (Laughter).
I mean, it's great. I had gotten to the point -- you know, the problem, too, is TOUR School is getting so hard. There's only 25 spots now. You know, there's so many good players. Guys used to choke coming in the last day or two and they don't anymore. You know, it's tough. It gives me an extra month or two off where normally I'm training for two or three weeks to get ready for that week, or two weeks a lot of times.
So it's a real benefit for me, my health, my sanity.

Q. How will your schedule change?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I'm going to play next week. I'll probably play out the year. I'm playing well and I love doing it. You know, for me, I played for like seven years and I quit and did other things. I enjoy every day I'm out here, I really do. It's always a pleasure for me to come out and play. I love training to play. I love getting ready.
So I plan on playing the next, you know, I probably wasn't going to play Texas, but I'll play all the rest of them.

Q. Have you made your first phone call or gotten your first phone call?
MICHAEL ALLEN: No, I haven't. It will be filled tonight and it will be fun. I'm just waiting for my first good bottle of wine, really. That's what I'm looking forward to. (Laughter).
STEWART MOORE: Michael Allen, great finish today, great story. Thanks so much for spending time with us.

End of FastScripts

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